IT may well have been Celtic who won the European Cup in the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon last night with their 2-1 win over their renowned and highly-fancied Italian rivals Inter Milan.
But the game of football was also the victor as the Scots’ flair and willingness to attack prevailed over the dour and negative tactics of their opponents.
Helenio Herrera’s side, winners of the continent’s premier club competition in 1964 and 1965, were the strong pre-match favourites to complete a hat-trick of triumphs in Portugal.
However, the success of Jock Stein’s entertaining side in front of a crowd of 45,000 – around 12,000 of whom were decked out in the green and white colours of the team from Glasgow – was universally acclaimed.
There could, too, be no doubting this momentous result, which saw Celtic become the first club from the British Isles to lift the European Cup, was just and deserved.
When the Parkhead club fell behind to a soft penalty - which so incensed Stein, sitting on a bench at the side of the pitch, that he remonstrated with Kurt Tschenscher, the referee, at half-time – early on it looked ominous for them.
Tschenscher ruled that Jim Craig, the Celtic right back, had brought down Renato Cappellini, the Inter striker, inside his own area. It was a harsh decision. But Sandro Mazzola, the Inter inside right, converted in just the seventh minute.
But Celtic proceeded to seize control of the game and batter their bewildered and disbelieving rivals thereafter.
Tommy Gemmell drew them level when he ran onto a Craig cut back and rifled home an unstoppable shot from just outside the Inter penalty box in the 63rd minute.
Stevie Chalmers clinched victory when he turned a Bobby Murdoch shot beyond Giuliano Sarti on the edge of the six yard box with six minutes remaining.
It was a wonder the winning scoreline was so narrow.
The statistics told their own story on this occasion; Celtic had no fewer than 42 attempts on goal during the course of as one-sided a 90 minutes as they will ever play while Inter managed a paltry five.
The Celtic fans in the crowd invaded the pitch in their thousands at the final whistle and captain Billy McNeill was by himself as he lifted the trophy aloft.
But this was an historic victory and the players responsible are unlikely to be forgotten in years to come.
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